John McCusker/The Times-PicayuneWhen officers arrived at the 800 block of North Robertson Street on Wednesday about 3 a.m., they found Wanda Wagner Simpson lying below the porch steps of a lime-green two-story shotgun home, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.

This story was also written by staff writer Katy Reckdahl.

On Monday, 78-year-old Alfred Andrews rolled into court in a wheelchair to defend himself against allegations that he beat his 31-year-old wife. He was acquitted.

After his killing spree, Andrews called his daughter and told her he had shot his wife. He then fired a bullet into his face, ending the nightmare inside the Treme home where they all lived, police said. Andrews was taken to University Hospital where he was listed late Wednesday in critical condition.

John McCusker/The Times-PicayunePolice surrounded the home on North Robertson Street and blocked off Orleans Avenue, North Claiborne Avenue, North Villere Street and St. Philip Street.

The triple murder brought a violent end to the relationship between Andrews and his much younger wife, Jennifer Muse, which started when Muse was 16, according to Magistrate Court commissioner Marie Bookman, who handled the domestic abuse case.

Neighbors said the two became intimate while Andrews lived in the household with a young Jennifer Muse and her mother, Wanda Wagner Simpson. Andrews had dated Simpson in the past, they said.

In the moments leading up to the violence, Andrews accused Muse of "being unfaithful," according to Assistant Police Superintendent Marlin Defillo. Simpson, 50, and Monica Muse, 25, were also victims to his rage.

Police called to scene

Officers arrived at the scene in the 800 block of North Robertson Street about 3 a.m. after receiving a 911 call about a shooting. There they found Simpson lying below the porch steps of a lime-green two-story shotgun home, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.

As police approached her, they heard a gunshot pop inside the home. The officers retreated and notified the SWAT team and crisis unit negotiators about the possibility that a suspect was barricaded inside.

Police surrounded the home and blocked off Orleans Avenue, North Claiborne Avenue, North Villere Street and St. Philip Street, Defillo said.

Help for injured woman delayed

James Tayler, who lives nearby, said he called 911 about 3 a.m. after hearing "several thuds" that sounded like a series of gunshots. He said several police cars and an ambulance arrived 20 minutes later but that Simpson, whom he has known all his life, continued to lie face-down on the sidewalk below the porch steps where he could see her breathing.

About 3:45 a.m., Tayler said, a police sergeant called him to thank him. "I said, 'Don't thank me: get that woman out of the street,'" he recounted. But the sergeant said he couldn't, for the safety of his officers.

Tayler then asked if he could run outside and grab his bleeding neighbor but was told no. He said Simpson was not pulled away from the porch until about 4 a.m. She was dead when paramedics got to her, said John Gagliano, the coroner's chief investigator.

Crisis team negotiators never made contact with Andrews, and SWAT officers entered the home about five hours later, Defillo said.

Gagliano said they found Jennifer and Monica Muse dead from bullet wounds to the face. Andrews, meanwhile, had apparently shot himself, also in the face, Defillo said.

Paramedics took Andrews to LSU Interim Public Hospital in critical condition, according to New Orleans EMS spokesman Jeb Tate. If Andrews survives, police will jail him with three counts of second-degree murder, Defillo said.

Officials placed the teenage boy in a relative's care, Defillo said.

Domestic violence hard to prevent

The three women died in the city's second episode of mass violence in fewer than six days.

Defillo acknowledged that citizens are tiring of the violent deaths but said that even "very tragic, very heinous" cases of domestic violence are hard to prevent.

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Wednesday that he knew about what Andrews had done but "did not want to make a statement" about the domestic abuse case his office tried Monday.

Last July, Andrews was arrested after Jennifer Muse called 911 at 5 a.m. and told the responding officers her husband had attacked her.

According to a police report filed in Criminal District Court, Muse accused Andrews of pushing her to the ground after they got into a "heated argument." He then mounted her and punched her in the face with a closed fist multiple times, she said in the report.

Muse told police she kicked Andrews in the groin and stomach, and he let her go, the report said.

Police jailed Andrews with one count of domestic abuse battery, a misdemeanor. They noted on the report that Muse complained of neck and back pain and had a "cut to the nose." Andrews posted a $10,000 bond and was placed under a restraining order, which prohibited him from going near Muse, according to court records.

Domestic abuse trial

The district attorney's office tried Andrews on the charge Monday. Andrews opted for a judge trial, and Magistrate Commissioner Bookman acquitted him. His restraining order also expired that day, Bookman said.

Defense attorneys have challenged the legality of unelected commissioners, like Bookman, presiding over trials in magistrate court. There is currently a case pending on this issue before the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Chris Flood, deputy director of the Orleans Parish Public Defenders, said the issue shouldn't need a petition to the state highest court, noting that the court ruled in 2001 that the Louisiana Constitution prohibits unelected commissioners from presiding over misdemeanor trials, such as a domestic violence case.

Bookman, however, said she did not believe Wednesday's slayings showed magistrate commissioners were inadequate. She doubted any elected judge at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court would have found enough evidence to find an aged, hobbled Andrews guilty of domestic battery.

Andrews showed up to his trial in poor health, Bookman said. He moved around in a wheelchair. He had only a thumb and a pinky on one hand. He asked for a break at one point to administer insulin because he is a diabetic, Bookman said.

Bookman said that both Andrews and Muse testified in the trial.

Andrews claimed he pushed Muse down only after she punched him, and he testified she was mad because he had awoken her.

"He was very believable when he testified," Bookman said.

Also during the trial, Muse told Bookman that she and Andrews had only gotten married in the last year, but had been in a relationship dating back to when she was 16 and Andrews was 63.

Prison time was unlikely

Bookman said a guilty verdict would not necessarily have stopped Andrews from attacking Muse on Wednesday, since he most likely would have received probation instead of prison time.

"He's 78 with medical problems," Bookman said.

Additionally, at no point in between his arrest and trial did anyone, including Muse, report that Andrews had become violent again or shown signs of mental instability.

"I cried when I heard the news," Bookman said. But while "this was greatly tragic," it was "unforeseeable and unpreventable," she added. "I think I did my job."

A year ago, Cannizzaro, along with others, decided to move prosecution of domestic violence cases to Criminal District Court. Previously, the cases were all prosecuted at the city's Municipal Court. Proponents said the move was necessary to show batterers that beating a spouse is a serious crime and can mean jail time.

Mary Claire Landry, the head of the federally financed Family Justice Center, said it is too soon to come to a conclusion about whether the new system let Muse down.

"I think the person was identified in the system," Landry said. "I just don't think there was enough information to indicate this level of danger."

Landry would not comment about whether Muse sought assistance from the Family Justice Center, which provides services to abuse victims, often in coordination with the police and DA's office. But she said there will be a case review to see if the system should have done anything differently for the family.

Staff writer Laura Maggi contributed to this report. Ramon Antonio Vargas can be reached at rvargas@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3371.